


He Knows

by Fervidflowering



Category: Luke Cage (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 13:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15220349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fervidflowering/pseuds/Fervidflowering
Summary: Luke Cage knows how it looks from the outside, but there is no better option.





	He Knows

He knows. 

In the quiet moments - before any of his employees return to the club, before the noise on the street comes in, before he remembers who he is now - he knows that things have crawled out of his hands and scattered beyond his reach. He tries to catch the strings that seem to unravel every time he takes a step forward, but they don’t want to stay where he puts them. 

There is peace though - for a time. People smile when he walks by, kids laugh and play in the street just like they did before he took over Harlem’s Paradise, but there’s something a little sweeter because he helped restore the peace.

And the Italians and all the rest of the gangs keep their trash out of his streets. The homes of his adopted community are hallowed again. 

Sure, Deedub doesn’t call on him, but that’s just because the they’re both busy people. His work at the barber shop picked up speed after Luke moved out. And the club’s been keeping him busy. It has. 

He knows. 

A month after he takes ownership, some upstart tries to claim a couple corners along 140th. Some baddie causes some troubles for Danny, so while he goes to help his friend, he tells his guys to deal with the upstarts. Several of the upstarts end up in the hospital. A couple of them end up in the morgue.

A few of the smiles dim. The kids can feel the change in the air and when they notice him walking by, a few of the older ones snatch the younger ones close to them and watch him pass.

He knows.

He’s had six months in the roost now and it’s not new. He scared people before just by walking. By existing. He’s a 6’3” black man. He lived in Georgia. He’s been living in New York.

But the nervousness he spots in folks now? It stings him that much more because he remembers their smiles. Remembers being hailed as the “Hero of Harlem.” His stomach grinds on itself and seems to spill acid throughout his insides when he thinks of how he’s turned himself into a king. 

He knows.

But that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop. 

The streets are safer now. He can follow the illegal activities more easily and, while she doesn’t seem to hold to her ‘implicit trust’ in him like she once did, he and Misty still have a valuable partnership that preserves Harlem and needs the information he can gather in the roost. 

If he stops now, there’d be no one to stop the flood from coming back into the neighborhood. 

Harlem needs people like him. 

And he knows what that sounds like, but he is not her.

**Author's Note:**

> While I felt like they had to character assassinate Luke for this season to work, I am really interested to see how he deals with becoming Mariah and Cornell in future shows he's a part of. And I'm really interested to see who makes him see sense.


End file.
